1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a self-scanning checkout apparatus for permitting a customer himself to scan article data of articles purchased by the customer so as to register the articles for sale.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in a checkout apparatus for settling accounts of articles in a retail shop, for example, a self-scanning checkout apparatus for permitting a customer himself to scan article data of purchased articles has been developed so as to register the articles. As one example of this type of self-scanning checkout apparatus, a self-scanning checkout apparatus disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 08/328,107 is known.
In such a self-scanning checkout apparatus, a two-lane (plural-lane) type apparatus is used to permit a plurality of customers to settle accounts with a single cashier. In this apparatus, a stationary scanner for permitting the customer to scan an article is provided, an upstream-side basket placing table on which unregistered articles are placed is disposed in front of the stationary scanner and a downstream-side basket placing table on which registered articles are placed is disposed in the rear position of the stationary scanner.
First, the customer puts an article to be scanned on the upstream-side basket placing table, scans the article one by one by use of the stationary scanner, and puts the article on the downstream-side basket placing table. Then, after all of the articles to be purchased are scanned, the total amount of money for the articles is displayed on a display connected to the stationary scanner according to article data input via the scanner and a receipt having the total amount and the like printed thereon is output.
Then, the customer pays money corresponding to the total amount of money to the cashier and the cashier gives the change to the customer together with the receipt and a bag for putting the articles therein.
At this time, a next customer is scanning articles to be purchased, and in the case of a two-lane checkout apparatus, a customer on the other lane is scanning articles to be purchased. Therefore, in comparison with a case wherein one cashier effects the scanning operation and settlement service, the efficiency of the service can be significantly enhanced and the labor cost can be markedly lowered.
However, a case wherein the customer erroneously or intentionally passes an article along the scanner without being scanned and places the article on the downstream-side basket placing table is considered. In this case, the article is put into a bag without counting up the price thereof and it becomes a loss for the shop. In order to prevent this problem, it is required for the cashier to keep a careful watch on the operation of the customer so as to prevent occurrence of the above problem and to advise the customer to effect normal scanning when the cashier has detected occurrence of the above problem. However, if the cashier is required to give advice and guidance to a plurality of customers, the mental load of the cashier becomes heavy and the efficiency of the service is lowered.